This Week in Mobile Esports: Vainglory Premier League announced, Arena of Valor to have regionalized and collegiate-level tournaments, Clash Royale most watched mobile esports in 2017, Two official versions of PUBG mobile now available in China

With Vainglory’s highly anticipated 5v5 mode finally rolling out to all users on February 13th, Super Evil MegaCorp also revealed its esports plans for 2018 with the announcement of the Vainglory Premier League, which will commence in June this year. The regular season for the VPL will follow an extended preseason designed to give Vainglory Esports organizations sufficient opportunity to transition and expand their 3v3 player rosters to accommodate 5v5 play. The new Vainglory Premier League will evolve the Vainglory Esports structure and schedule, moving to a double-round-robin with midseason and end-of-season playoffs, along with a single relegation tournament and regional championships will qualify teams for the annual World Championship.

Partnering with SEMC to deliver the Vainglory Premier League will be ESP Gaming and Razer. Best known for developing competitive gaming content for the likes of NFL and World Series of Poker, ESP Gaming will make Vainglory its flagship production title for mobile esports in its new, state-of-the-art Vegas studio. Meanwhile Razer has entered into a strategic partnership to combine Vainglory with its gamer-first devices and peripherals.

Arena of ValorRegionalized and collegiate-level tournaments to be rolled out later this season across North America

The official announcement for the Arena of Valor World Cup was also announced this week. Along with news and details about its top tier competition (already recapped in last week’s news), Tencent also notes that regionalized and collegiate-level tournaments to be rolled out later this season across North America.

According to Tencent (developers behind Arena of Valor), The smaller, more localized opportunities reflect the inclusive and accessible nature of Arena of Valor – which focuses on 5v5 MOBA matches in short, adrenaline-fueled bursts, making it perfect for anyone, anywhere, anytime. Tencent believes that with Arena of Valor’s accessibility, combined with the commitment to esports from Tencent, means that the mobile esports will soon be on par with esports on other platforms.

“Tencent has a vision for mobile esports that embraces competition at the highest level and elevates pro mobile esports to the same level as any other platform,” said a Tencent spokesperson.

More information will be available soon, including ticket sales as well as details on location and registration.

According to figures from market research firm Newzoo, Clash Royale’s 2017 esports tournaments were watched a combined total of 1.3 million viewing hours across all platforms. While 1.3 million viewing hours sounds like a lot (and it was the most for any mobile game in the West), mobile esports viewing still pales in comparison to its PC counterparts: PC esports events accrued 405 million viewership hours in Europe and North America in 2017, while mobile esports saw just two million hours, generated largely from Clash Royale and Vainglory events. With the influx of new mobile esports titles as well as the continuing growth of the Clash Royale and Vainglory esports scene, we anticipate this number should at least double in 2018.

PUBGTwo official versions of PUBG mobile now available for download in China

PUBG mobile is finally here (for those of you that are in China)! Tencent has launched not one, but TWO official versions of the game: one is a more arcade take on PUBG with air and naval battles, while the other plays more like the PUBG on PC we are all familiar with.

According to TouchArcade, The arcade like title is called PUBG: Army Attack and it has been developed by Tencent’s Timi Studio. The more traditional PUBG game is called PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield. This one has been developed by Lightspeed & Quantum Studio. Both titles have already reached 75 million pre-registrations just in China alone.

Not in China but want to get your hands on these games? Then check out these instructions on how to download Android games directly from the Chinese version of WeChat!